Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler SS Cookware?

The good ol' Watercooler. Place for manly men to discuss vacuum cleaners, bath towels and chainsaws. I need to buy some cookware now. Figured I might as well start a manly cookware thread......

During a ridiculous display of juvenile antics, lacking any and all thought about what in the hell I would do afterwards, I pitched a bunch of cookware. I have been 'thinking' about getting some nice cookware for a few years, but every time I look at just how expensive it is, I move on and end up in the tool section. But over the years my collection of crap from Costco and other chain stores has degraded to mostly unusable and disgusting to look at. So I figured that if I just pitch the crap, I'd be forced to buy some new stuff. Smart!! - Not....

A couple hours researching this has me pondering the wisdom of my motivational tactics. Sonofabitch this stuff is expensive!!! Ya, they make some cheap stuff, but then I'd start the cycle all over again. So I'm not going cheap. We have one saucepan that I splurged on last year. A Le Crueset SS pan. Cost me almost $200. It is very nice, and has enough heft to bludgeon a water buffalo to death. I figured I'd buy some more. Then I found out that my nice SS "French" Le Crueset sausepan is actually manufactured in China, unlike the coated cast iron Le Crueset stuff we have - go figure. I've been in a mood lately to do my best to not buy stuff from China. It's my feeble little war against the inevitable economic world takeover that China is conducting. I'd prefer to stick to that flippant course of action, but may just have to cave. So that leaves All-Clad and a few others. All are downright disgustingly expensive. Crap, what did I get myself into.

Well we do like to cook, and I figure I have a good twenty years left before I kick the bucket, unless I do something stupid, so I might as well splurge a bit.

I hate the handles on the All-Clad. They put my wrist an an unnatural angle. So made in the USA All-Clad stuff is off my list of contenders.

I don't like rivets in pans either. I just don't have the patience required to clean all around the damn things.

I really like the look of those pans on the majority of the cooking channel shows. I found out the ones that I thought looked really cool are Demeyere: Atlantis line. Made in Germany. Seven ply stuff. I can buy a car for what a set of this stuff costs. I might have to sell the vette. Probably should, before I do something stupid in it, well 'stupider' than I've already done.

Mauviel is made in France (Really is this time), again expensive. I can't tell if they use rivets though. About the same price point as the Demeyere stuff. I did find a set on clearance for about 30% off though, tempting. But it's French! ...so I should be able to burn plastic in them and it'll taste good with some butter and cream.

Anyone one else have some first hand experience with some high end cookware?? I kinda need to buy something pretty soon. You can only do so much with a microwave and a glass cup.

I know you hate All-Clad, but the pans themselves aside from the handles are awesome--I can cook bacon in our 10" skillet and then pretty much just wipe off the grease and baked on bits. I'm also happy with the Cuisinart (!) pan we have.

You know I can't resist the metro threads.

I don't care about having everything match.

I don't know. It depends on what you cook. I don't think you can beat the French-made, enamel-on-cast-iron Le Creuset stuff, so I'd buy as much of that in as many shapes and sizes as I could.

And I think that nonstick frying pans are a disposable item. So, I just buy cheaper versions (usually the Farberware Millennium) every couple years rather than spend $200 on one and pretend its going to last forever.

Which leaves you with stockpots, saucepans and skillets-in-which-to-develop-frond. I don't think stockpots are that big a deal; I settled on American-made Vollrath. It might have rivets, but that stuff is awesome.

Seriously, how often do you use saucepans and how many do you need? Just fork over the money for a few of the Mauviel Copper or Demeyere ones.

We got lucky (20 years ago) and bought a set of All-Clad clone stuff at Costco. Still have it.

Overall - honestly - I think you can make too much of cookware. It's the chef and the technique that matter. I'm pretty sure most of the stuff I see at restaurant supply houses is of much lower quality than the products you're looking at.

Do you have NG or propane?

Yeah Mike, that does sound a bit weird, but it'd be a good way to start a diet. I get turned off when I hear "high end"(i.e., high priced)about anything, and Cuisinart's multiclad stuff is plenty good enough for me(the rivets aren't really that big a deal to clean around). Consider a set like this, made in France, not China.

We got the same thing a year or two ago and love it. Like Ken said, cleanup is easy. I was stumped by some discoloration until my wife told me about Bar Keepers Friend.

About the same time, we also got some ceramic over cast iron stuff from the local TJ Maxx - forget the brand, but it was a good deal. No more eating Teflon chips.

I just can't get past those stupid handles Ken, but I know the All-Clad stuff is top notch. They really need to change their handles.

Tom - the voice of reason once again. My cook top is propane. The next home I build will more than likely have an induction cook top, for no other reason than clean up. Gas is nice, but they are a PITA to keep clean.

Thanks John. I had no idea Cuisinart made anything anywhere but China. Good find.

I also stumbled onto another choice. Apparently, Demeyere makes a line of cookware for Sur La Table. Slightly lower price than their top tier line. I might try a couple of them... http://www.surlatable.com/category/cat450426/Demeyere?cleanSession=true&pCat=CAT-5779

C'mon, Mike, I've only burned myself badly on those handles twice, three times!

define "badly"

Yeah, Lefty. Tell us.

Not very badly. Hurt a lot. Basically, once I grabbed the handle in the oven with my bare hands without thinking about it, another couple of times I was wearing an oven mitt which didn't cover enough of my arm and the superlong handle burned it.